Somari
Somari (full title: Somari the Adventurer) is a pirated port of Sonic the Hedgehog, made for the Famicom by Someri Team. The game features Mario in place of Sonic. Overview Somari is a very well known pirated Famicom port of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis featuring Mario in place of Sonic, reported to have been made in 1994 by Somari Team. This game also includes the Spin Dash, a move introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, dating the game to November 24th 1992 (the release date of that game) or after. Also notable is the usage of the Special Stage and the background graphics for Green Hill Zone from the Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog, almost certainly due to hardware limitations of the Famicom. All of the zones from the Megadrive version are included, with the exception of Scrap Brain Zone which is unfinished and can only be accessed by savestate hacking. The controls are similar to Sonic the Hedgehog, albeit including the Spin Dash and Somari suddenly slowing down when going into a jump from full speed, a problem also encountered in the Famicom port of Super Mario World by Hummer Team. Oddly, the game includes loops and ramps, although these have somewhat glitchy programming such as the player being able to get permanently stuck on a loop if hit by a badnik as well as passing through one ring when the player runs through it, a glitch also present in Jurassic Boy 2 by Sachen. Also, unlike StH, while rolling you cannot control yourself at all. Somari is considered to be significantly more difficult than StH due to the sometimes excessive amounts of enemies, poor programming at points, poor control and lack of continues. The level design is somewhat flawed, such as frequently repeating areas of zones, most noticeably in Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone, to inescapable pits in Green Hill Zone. The game also lacks the Chaos Emeralds and therefore there's only one ending avalable which is a modified version of StH's bad ending. The graphics are mostly taken from StH for the Megadrive, with a few exceptions. The background for Green Hill Zone and the Special Stage graphics are from the Master System version, the sprite of Somari is an edited version of Mario's sprite from Super Mario Bros 3 and some other graphics were modified on the title screen; namely the removal of the Sega copyright on the emblem and in the bottom right corner, the edit in the title to read Somari and Sonic himself being replaced with Mario in the same pose. The "Sonic Team Presents" screen from the original was also modified to read "Somari Team Presents." The music is mostly taken from the same game, although in much lower quality as well as the Special Stage music being from the Master System version. The sound effects are remakes of those from the original, with some being used in games such as Kart Fighter and Aladdin III. Somewhat notably, this game was reviewed on Dendy: The New Reality (a Russian TV show about video games) on November 26th 1994, dating the game from November 24th 1992 to November 26th 1994. = Clones = Somari has been hacked to produce a few other games. In order that they are released: *Sonic The Hedgehog (Somari but the sprite has been replaced with Sonic and the title screen has been redrawn) *Sonic 3D Blast 5 (Identical to Sonic the Hedgehog but you start in Spring Yard Zone) *Sonic and Knuckles 5 (Uses the Sonic & Knuckles title screen and music, the game starts in Spring Yard Zone) *Sonic 3D Blast 6 (Uses Sonic 3D Blast's title screen and start screen, starts off in Marble Zone) *Family Kid (Replaces Mario with a supposedly original character) *Doraemon (See section) While Somari was definitely made around about 1994, Sonic 3D Blast 5 and 6 might have been made in 1997 or any other year after 1996. Sonic 3D Blast 6 was definitely made in 1996 or after as it uses the title screen from Sonic 3D Blast and as it uses a remake of Sonic & Knuckles' title screen music it is a rehack of Sonic & Knuckles 5. To back it up with even more proof, in Sonic 3D Blast 6's tiles you can find the remaining menu tiles from Sonic and Knuckles 5. As well as this, all of the hacks that feature Sonic the Hedgehog fix the inescapable pits in Green Hill Zone which differentiate them from Somari and Family Kid. Family Kid is a basic hack of Somari, replacing the "Somari Team Presents" screen with the Family logo (which is included but unused in several other pirates) and Mario with Family Kid, presumably named after the hackers. However, they didn't change the signpost graphics which still have Mario's face on them. As well as this, part of Family Kid's standing sprite is missing for unknown reasons. Doraemon Doraemon was made by Waixing and it's probably the biggest hack of Somari. Somari is replaced by Doraemon in this game. With the exception of the Final Zone, the level designs are completely different and most of the graphics and music have been redone. However, it should be noted that some graphics are stolen from Aladdin III (the cobras under the spikes in level III) and Chip and Dale 2 (most likely Sonic and Mario 2 due to how graphics were stolen from Aladdin III). Somewhat notably, in a similar way to Sonic Triple Trouble on the Game Gear you lose 20 rings when hit and not all of them like Somari did (but only 3 still fly out) and unlike him Doraemon can't drown underwater. The special stage was omitted although still accessible through save state hacking; it includes the music and graphics from the original level, although the background is grey as opposed to black for unknown reasons. = Trivia = *The level select screen can be accessed by a cheat code at the title screen. The codes are: **Somari, Sonic hacks and Family Kid: Left, Down, B, A, Right, Up, A, B, Up, Down, Up, Down **Doraemon: A, B, Select, Up, Down, Left, Right, A *The Special Stage is misspelled as "Spacial Stage" on the level select screen and named "Special Zone" on the title cards. As well as this, Spring Yard Zone is misspelled as "Spring Yand Zone" on the level select screen. These spelling errors are present in all of the hacks, with the exception of Doraemon which is in Chinese instead of English. *The background on the title screen is completely different to that of Green Hill Zone's due to limitations of the Famicom's hardware. *Robotnik is seen juggling the Chaos emeralds in the ending, despite these not being collectable anywhere in the game, and the ending itself won't work on some emulators, causing the game to crash instead. *Somari Team is spelled "Someri Team" on one of the cartridge arts, with the same cart having a 1994 copyright. This spelling is also used on the circuit board of AV Girl Fighting. *There are colouring issues similar to those in Hummer Team games, especially on the title screen. *While it's possible to get a time over, it doesn't seem to work in Labyrinth Zone, presumably because of how long it takes to beat each act. *There are unused tiles in Somari's rom which have the banner on the title screen read "Mario" instead of "Somari." There might have been another version that uses these tiles or the name was probably changed for copyright reasons. *On the title screen, Mario's face seems to be based off that of which appears in the bonus areas of the SNES port of Super Mario Bros. *There is a hack of Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis where Sonic is replaced with Somari but not much is known. The origin is known to be New Zealand. *Somari appears in the BootlegGames Wiki logo and the front page pic. Category:Someri Team